Michael Muchmore5 Cool Features in Adobe Creative Cloud Adobe's next version of Creative Suite will actually be the subscription-based Creative Cloud. It's got a slew of new features, and we've picked out the best.

Adobe has just announced a radical update to its Creative Suite, which in effect will be replaced by Creative Cloud. No longer will you be able to go into a store and buy a box with Photoshop, Illustrator, Dreamweaver, Premiere Pro, or any of the other suite members. One of several good things about the change is that for a $49.99 a month fee ($29.99 for students and teachers) you get every single Adobe application—although there's predictably a lot of kvetching online about the new subscription model, that might almost be a cool new feature in itself. And there are no more levels like Photoshop vs. Photoshop Extended; you get everything, period.

But the way the apps are delivered isn't the only thing that's changed. This year's Creative Suite, er, Creative Cloud update will bring plenty of nifty new tools, features, and services when it launches on June 17. To whet your appetite in the meantime, we've pulled out what we consider the best of 'em. Well, at least the most readily impressive ones. There are plenty of other new features that, while, not as sexy, may actually be of more use to pros in the field, such as Photoshop's new improved upsampling and nondestructive smart object effects.

Some of the features we've included are pretty well known already. Photoshop CC's new, amazing Camera Shake Reduction was first demoed way back at the company's Fall 2011 MAX trade show and only now has finally made it into the released product.

A subtler kind of new feature is the cloud connectivity you get in all of the major Creative Cloud applications. The apps will now let you sync your workspace layout, settings, and even project assets. Another web service benefit that comes with the new suite is integration with the Bēhance social network for creative professionals. CC apps can share work directly to Bēhance for feedback from colleagues and customers, as well as showcasing their work to the industry at large.

Keep in mind that this is just a tiny sampling of what new in the Adobe Creative Cloud applications: If you dig into the individual programs, you'll find many more, some of which may be more crucial to your use of the software.

1
Photoshop CC: Camera Shake Reduction

This almost unbelievable feature solves an age-old problem: you move the camera a little when snapping a picture, and the result is a slightly smeared image. Before this Photoshop feature, your best option was to just chuck the photo. The feature analyses the motion path of the shake, and realigns the pixels for a crisp, sharp image. You really have to see this in a video to fully appreciate it, which you can by watching Adobe's Zorana Gee showing Camera Shake Reduction . Since your shake may include some rotation as well as linear movement, all areas of the photo won't be blurred to the same degree. The feature lets you compensate for this by selecting areas that should be in focus. This is one feature that I can't wait to try out, personally.

2
Illustrator CC: Kuler iPhone App

Kuler is a cool yet simple iPhone app that lets you create a color swatch from photos you shoot with the phone. You'll simply tap on five areas in the picture that you want to extract the color from, and the app creates a swatch of these colors that can be sent to Illustrator for use in your projects. It's a great tool for getting title text to match a photo in your project. You can also choose preset color themes or share with an online Kuler community at kuler.adobe.com. Sync your color themes to Creative Cloud, and they'll be available if you work from a different computer.

3
After Effects CC: Refine Edge

Rotoscoping is a time-honored—and much reviled—tradition in the movie editing business. It involves frame-by-frame retouching to separate foreground objects from the background. Even in the age of computers, it's an incredibly intensive process, but After Effects CC's new Refine Edge tool convincingly handles even difficult objects like hair or tree lines.

4
B&#275;hance

In this day of Facebook, we always know what all our friends are up to at all times; why not have the same currency for coworkers, clients, and other professionals in the creative field? The new CC apps can upload your work directly to the Bēhance professional creative social network for feedback from colleagues and clients for just this kind of immediacy. Bēhance also acts as a clearinghouse for the digital creative industry, where you can post your work in an online portfolio where potential customers can see it.

5
Dreamweaver CC: Fluid Grid Layouts

These days, web developers can't get by with just designing sites for desktop browsers: smart phones and tablets now make up a huge segment of the web audience. Dreamweaver CC's new Fluid Grid Layout tool lets webdevs easily adjust their sites for different screen size by specifying break points that trigger different CSS layouts that fit the current display surface. And it uses web-standard CSS3 and HMTL5 to accomplish this.

About the Author

Michael Muchmore is PC Magazine?s lead analyst for software and Web applications. A native New Yorker, he has at various times headed up PC Magazine?s coverage of Web development, enterprise software, and display technologies. Michael cowrote one of the first overviews of Web Services for a general audience. Before that he worked on PC Magazine?s S... See Full Bio

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